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The Soldier of Marathon Announcing the Victory (1834) by Jean-Pierre Cortot; Louvre, Paris. The Greek historian Herodotus was the first person to write about an Athenian runner named Pheidippides participating in the First Persian War. His account is as follows: [10] Before they left the city, the Athenian generals sent off a message to Sparta ...
The Battle of Marathon was a watershed in the Greco-Persian wars, showing the Greeks that the Persians could be beaten; the eventual Greek triumph in these wars can be seen to have begun at Marathon. The battle also showed the Greeks that they were able to win battles without the Spartans, as Sparta was seen as the major military force in Greece.
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of 42.195 kilometres (c. 26 mi 385 yd), [1] usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions. More than 800 marathons are held worldwide each year, with ...
Legend has it that Pheidippides, a Greek herald at the battle, was sent running from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory, which is how the marathon running race was conceived in modern times. [n 1] Today it is part of East Attica regional unit, in the outskirts of Athens and a popular resort town and center of agriculture.
The legend of the ancient run — the run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides to announce victory at the Battle of Marathon to either Athens — had become more culturally prominent in late 19th-century Europe. Robert Browning's 1879 poem "Pheidippides" had brought the story to wider attention, as had an 1890 archeological dig of the Marathon ...
The Athenians, joined by a small force from Plataea, marched to Marathon, and succeeded in blocking the two exits from the plain of Marathon. [92] At the same time, Athens' greatest runner, Pheidippides (or Philippides) was sent to Sparta to request that the Spartan army march to Athens' aid. [ 92 ]
[14] In 1896, at the first modern Olympics, the very first modern-day marathon was run. To honor the history of Greek running, Greece chose a course that would mimic the route run by Athenian army. The route started at a bridge in the town of Marathon and ended in the Olympic stadium. Another event in the ancient Olympic Games was the pentathlon.
However, the Spartans delay sending troops to Marathon because religious requirements (the Carneia) mean they must wait for the full moon. The Greek historian Herodotus , the main source for the Greco-Persian Wars , mentions Pheidippides as the messenger who runs from Athens to Sparta asking for help, and then runs back, a distance of over 240 ...